Rhode Island to pay DACA renewal fees for ever R.I “Dreamer”

Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo says more than $170,000 has been secured to cover the renewal fees for local recipients of a program that shields from deportation immigrants brought to the country illegally when they were children.

The Democratic governor announced Monday that through the ‘‘generosity of several local and national funders,’’ no state resident who’s in the program will need to pay the $495 application fee to apply for a two-year extension of their status in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, also known as DACA.

DACA recipients who are eligible to apply for a renewal of their status must do so by Oct. 5.

The initiative is a response to President Donald Trump’s plan to end the program created in 2012.

I’m proud to announce an initiative to pay DACA renewal fees for every Rhode Island DREAMer who is eligible to apply for renewal by Oct. 5.